Sweets Bitte
by Alex Damien
Summary: Prussia feels nostalgic on Halloween, so he puts on one of his old uniforms and along with Spain and France, goes out to annoy everybody they can find. Silly comedy. I wrote the first part of this for the great rper Prussia With His Prussian Logic over at tumblr, and then decided that it didn't have enough giant robots so I added in some. Also, old uniforms. Those are cool.
1. Chapter 1

Prussia lounged on the couch, watching Germany pace around the house and pretend to be actually doing something instead of waiting for it to be five already so he could go pick up Italy.

It was all really sad, and Prussia sighed. Why couldn't his brother just be honest about things and admit that he couldn't wait to see Italy? No instead he checked the knot of his tie for the hundredth time.

"I'll be back by eleven, I think," Germany said, adjusting his tie. "I bought some candy, in case any children come knocking. Try not to make too much of a mess".

"Ja, ja, just go already".

"I'm serious, bruder," he picked up his jacket and gave Prussia his best serious stare. "I just cleaned, and if Italy wants to stay over I don't want to have a mess".

Prussia lifted his eyebrows and grinned. To him Germany was still a tiny kid shouting up at a bunch of people who didn't give a damn about what he had to say. "It'll be fine. I won't do anything. I'll just…watch a movie or something".

Germany sighed. "Alright, I'll be going now".

Germany closed the door behind him and complete silence filled the house. Even Germany's dogs had decided to lay around on the garden by themselves.

Prussia sat up from the couch and walked to his room. No children were coming, of course. Everybody around were old people or couples with no children, so the silence that filled the house seemed to extend even to the street outside. The very wind itself seemed to have fled, so that not a single leaf could move.

In his room, he opened his closet and pushed the clothes aside to reveal a couple paintings of a small blonde boy. He had bought them a few years ago, no longer than thirty, and claimed that he had used the money to buy candy and birds. Of course, it would probably be a little awkward to explain to Germany "Hey, I spend a bunch of money on paintings of you from the time when I had to carry you everywhere", but better not to think of something like that now.

Still, there were times when the silence did weight too much, and all he wanted was to look at the images of the times when Germany realized how awesome his big brother was. Prussia passed his finger over the frame of one where Germany wore a tiny replica of Prussia's own military uniform from the times of Frederick the Great.

"Ah, those were good times, Kesesese!" he grinned and looked at the clock. He had at least a few hours before his brother and Italy came back, and it really had been so very long since he had worn that uniform. He dashed to his bed and pulled out a box.

It took almost no time for Prussia to be fully clothed in the traditional blue and red uniform. Not even a thousand years could make him forget how to be a soldier.

"How's it, Fritz? Don't I look awesome? Of course I do!", he got closer to the painting hanging on the wall. "Ah, but you looked awesome too. Uniforms really suited you, even while playing the flute. No, especially while playing the flute! You looked super awesome then!"

The doorbell rang, and all color drained from Prussia's already pale face. He turned a terrified face towards the entrance, and heard a cry of Trick of Treat.

"Ch-children…right…"

He took the bag of sweets Germany had left on the kitchen counter and opened the door to find three kids with a slightly frazzled looking mom. "You want candy, right? Here, take it," he dumped the entire bag on their buckets.

"Look, mom, he's a pirate!" said one of them, a boy dressed as a mummy.

"A pi…rate?... I AM A PRUSSIAN SOLDIER FROM THE 1700S YOU UNCULTURED FOOL!" he shouted.

The mother slapped him across the face so hard, he fell back on his ass into the house, and when he looked up they were all gone.

"Uhh…sorry…"

He sighed. He had gotten a bit carried away there, and he really couldn't blame the mother, since he would have reacted even worse if someone had shouted at Germany like that. The silence was making him do stupid things. He should just take off his uniform and settle down with a beer and a nice movie and just-

"Prussia? ¿Pero qué-? Why are you dressed in your uniform?" said a cheery voice from the entrance. Prussia whirled around and found Spain standing at the entrance where he hadn't closed the door.

"I…uh, Spain I…what are you doing here?!"

Spain grinned and lifted a wine bottle and a plate with a bunch of tapas. "I had nothing to do tonight and didn't want to stay home and give out candy. I thought we could invite France and watch a movie. Now, why are you dressed up like that? It's been ages!"

"Uhm, I just wanted to wear it again for a while. Don't tell Germany you saw me like this. He doesn't like it when I…uh…"

"I know, I know. Ah, but that's so cool! I miss wearing my old clothes sometimes. Especially the pirate ones"

"I think I have some of your old clothes, actually," he went back to his room and Spain followed.

"So I can call France?"

"Ja, but tell him that we're meeting at his place. Italy's going to spend the night here."

"Really? I want to see Ita-chan!"

"They'll be back late, but I guess we can come back for breakfast tomorrow. I'll leave West a note," Prussia rummaged around the back of the closet, careful to not move the clothes too much and let Spain see the paintings. "I could swear I had one of your pirate cloaks or something. From back when we went drinking and running around in Navarra or something. With all the bulls."

"Pamplona."

"That."

Prussia's hands finally graced over an old box and he pulled it out. "Hier! I knew it!"

The box contained an old and dirty red pirate jacket, a flowy beige shirt, and a red sash. Spain wasted no time taking off his shirt and putting everything on. Prussia even gave him a pair of his own old boots to complete the outfit.

"I look just the same! How funny!" said Spain, admiring himself in the mirror of Prussia's room.

"You used to wear a lot of gold."

"Ah, si. I used to be rich back then. So rich…"

Prussia ruffled Spain's hair. "And had longer hair," he said, wanting to turn the conversation away from the topic of money. "I still look a bit…I don't know…," he pushed his hair back. "Disheveled. Let me get some hair gel from West."

A couple minutes later he had completely gelled his hair back. "Yes! Perfect!" he said, putting on his old hat. Spain had found an old handkerchief and put it on like the scarves he used to wear.

"Hello! Where are you? Nii-san's here! I brought a really nice wine, so don't leave me alone at the entrance!"

Spain and Prussia ran out of the bedroom. "France! What are you doing here? We were supposed to go to your house."

"My house? Spain's message just said –Yes we eat with you- what was I supposed to do?"

"I meant -¡Si, vamos a ir a cenar contigo! (Yes, we will go and eat with you/at your place) - I can't write english good, especially in a cellphone!" whined Spain.

"And anyway, this was a costume party? Why are you both dressed up like that?"

"We were just…Ah, forget it and get yourself a nice outfit. I don't know what we're going to do, but we'll be dressed up for it."

France needed no more encouragement, and soon he was dressed as something or other that sort of resembled the musketeers but not really. Prussia didn't care, especially since he and Spain had gone through Spain's wine bottle while waiting for France to finish changing.

"And you left no tapas for me!" complained France when he saw the empty plate.

"I'll invite you over for dinner later," said Spain, as they all sat in the living room.

"And what are we going to do now, mon amis? We are looking far too good to stay home now."

"We can't stay home now. West will come back with Italy soon, and I don't want him to see me like this," said Prussia, while writing a note that said -I went drinking with France and Spain, be back tomorrow or soon whenever-. He stuck it to the refrigerator.

"I just remembered that time when I blew England full of holes," said Spain, opening France's wine with a joyful grin. "You were there, right France?"

"Oui."

"¡Fue fantástico! And then we sunk his boat. How did he get out of that?"

"No idea, but he reeked of seaweed for a couple years after that. Good times."

"Great times," chimed in Prussia, and went back to the living room. He never noticed the small yellow bird that flew from his head back to the refrigerator, pulled away the note, and hid it in the trash. "When was the last time we shot down England?"

"Too long ago, my dear," said France.

"Let's get out of here, I don't want West to catch us like this."

"But the wine-"

"Take the wine. Let's party like it's the 1700s!"

They turned off the lights and Prussia took a last look at Frederick's painting before closing the door behind him. Yes, let's party like it's the 1700s, and he was falling in love with someone whose life faded away with every blink of Prussia's eyes. When he fought, and cried, and loved, and everything was over so very fast.

He took a swig of France's wine straight from the bottle. "Let's piss off England!"


	2. Chapter 2

England sat on his country house with a nice fire burning at the chimney, and an even better cup of tea next to him. He had to be back at the parliament next Monday, but for now he had a few days of vacation and he intended to use them to rest and work on his embroidery and nothing more. He was even more thankful for the fact that there were no children around to bother him on that night with their silly demands for candy.

He looked out the window, and wondered for a moment if America would drop by and try to get him to go to his Halloween party. He had rejected his invitation the first time. Of course he had. He would first sink to the bottom of a lake than let America think that he actually wanted to spend this day with him.

He turned back to his embroidery. It was a simple pattern he had once done for queen Catherine, before the whole thing with Anne Boleyn had gone down. He sighed. Maybe, if he felt as dumb as he did right now when he finished it, he would give it to queen Elizabeth.

Maybe, but not likely.

Something tapped against the window, and when England turned back, he found a pair of red eyes against the window.

"Sweets, bitte."

England's scream resounded to the sky and set off thunders that lighted the whole night sky. He got up and backed away from the window, but tripped and fell over.

"Oy, England, don't be so noisy!" said France, strolling into the room with a wine bottle in his hand and a sword hanging from his side. Prussia kicked open the window and jumped inside. Behind him came Spain from his days as a pirate.

"W-w-what is this? What are you doing? Are you really France and Spain and Prussia? What is the meaning of this?!"

The tree men laughed.

"¡Dulce o truco, Inglaterra!" said Spain, looking down at England. He had the same disheveled look and fiery eyes as he'd had back at that battle at sea. That useless battle he had gotten into and that had left him for months stuck at the bottom of the sea.

"Quick, England, or we'll get the trick started," said Prussia, rummaging England's wine cabinet.

"W-what? I have no candy! This is stupid, go away."

"You don't turn away ghosts on all hallow's eve! How rude!" said France, and dumped England's cup of tea over his head.

There was a loud banging at the door. "Hey! England! It's me, America, do you want to come to the party?"

Before England could cry out, Spain had clamped a hand over his mouth and France had pinned his arms behind his back.

"Shit, you think he'll leave if he doesn't hear anything?" whispered Prussia, tearing off a piece of the curtains to tie England's hands behind his back.

America banged on the door even harder. "England! I know you're there, you old bastard! Open up!"

"He's going to tear down the door!" said France.

"Take him away, I'll barricade the door!" said Prussia, and rushed to the entrance.

Before he could reach the door though, it flew open and America entered, dressed up as a ghostly prison inmate. "Prussia?"

"…No."

"Then who are you?"

In Prussia's alcohol fueled brain an idea had formed. "I… am a ghost."

"Yeah, right. What are you doing here Prussia? Where's England?"

"Kesesese! You idiot, I am the ghost of your past, summoned by England to punish you."

America laughed nervously and took a step back. "Whatever dude, where's England?"

But the seed of doubt had been planted, and Prussia wasn't about to let the opportunity escape. He walked towards the bigger country. "America, come here. We have to train."

"Dude, stop. I'm calling Germany."

The mention of his brother sobered Prussia a little, and he decided to just let the game end. He rushed to the door and slammed it in America's face, then pushed a cabinet in front of it just for the hell of it. In the end it wouldn't really make much difference, considering America's strength, but he felt accomplished and it gave him enough time to get out of the house through the window.

A while later, he found the others in a bar on Manchester. They had tied England to a stool and were watching some football game on the tv along with a bunch of football fans.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" he yelled at Spain and France.

"We ran out of wine," said Spain with a goofy smile. France scowled at the pretzels in front of him, probably finding them subpar.

"I didn't ask for that! America is five minutes away! We have to get out of here!"

"Aw, mon ami, you have such high expectations of him," said France, taking a pretzel in his fingers and examining it like it was the strangest thing he'd seen. "What do you think he will do now, having seen your silly display of terrible acting? He will go straight to Germany, who will by now have read your message and call me. I have already instructed Picardie to answer any calls and explain that we are having a party in Paris," he said, and threw the pretzel back into the bowl with a disgusted huff.

Prussia blinked, and it took him a moment to process the information.

"I think you're not drunk," he said.

"Of course he's not, you idiot!" shouted England. "Take this off me or you'll regret it! Manchester, don't just sit there! Do something!"

Prussia looked at a stool near the end of the bar where a young man sat watching the game and drinking.

"Yeah, during half time," he said, not even looking at England.

Prussia turned back to France. "You're really not drunk at all. But I need to be. Now," he sat between Spain and France. "Eine Schwarzbier bitte"

The barman looked at him, squinted, and brought him a Guiness.

"Close enough," said Spain.

"No. Not at all," said Prussia, but took a long drink anyway. "So what are we going to do with him now?"

"Throw him to the bottom of the sea!" cheered Spain.

"Hey, don't make me go there," called Manchester, still not taking his eyes off the tv, but Prussia was suddenly too aware that the amount of football fans in the bar had increased worryingly.

England looked at Manchester, and his eyes softened, then he tsked and said "At least let me have a hand free. I want a drink too"

Spain moved to untie him. "That's ok, I still got my axe anyway"

"Why do you have an axe?!"

"¡You still had the axe you stole from me in 1812, hijo de puta!"

"Ah, right. I forgot. Barman, another round for everyone, on me," he said, and noticed the axe next to Spain hadn't lost any of its sharpness. "Two for my, uh, friends," France laughed at him, but England ignored him. "Anyway, what's the point of all the old clothes, and the breaking into my house and kidnapping me?"

Prussia took another long drink of his beer before answering. "Honestly? We were just going to scare you a little and steal some wine, but America arrived and we panicked."

"And you dressed up for that?"

"Actually, we dressed up, and then didn't know what to do and coming here to piss you off was the best idea we had."

"Bloody wankers," he said, and took a drink of his beer. England looked at the lights reflecting on the gold buttons and the way the feathers moved with the wind whenever someone opened the door like the feathers in his own hat had done; swinging in breeze of a dozen shores. He grinned. "Ah, those clothes sure bring back memories. I remember when all my kids were so tiny. Especially you Manchester! You were so little!"

"Shut up!"

The fans roared when the Manchester United scored a goal, and the four nations drank while the humans celebrated. It felt like being surrounded by a different kind of silence. A silence of the atmosphere itself, more than of sound.

"You should have gone to piss off someone else. Like Switzerland or Liechtenstein," said England.

"Switzerland would shoot us full of holes," said Spain.

"Or Iceland"

"Too cold," said France.

"Sealand?"

"Leave the kid alone," said Prussia.

"Japan?"

The trio pondered the possibilities.

"You would still be kidnapped. And we get half of all the candy and booze," said Spain, but by then it was all terms and conditions, and a couple beers later it was half time and England came out of the bar's bathroom dressed up in his old Pirate's clothes. Eyepatch included. "Yesh! Th' king o' the seas is back!" he yelled, and hugged Manchester. "I'll be back soon. Don't fight with your brothers"

"I haven't hated you this much in hundreds of years," said Manchester, his voice muffled under England's embrace.

"I always knew you would be great," he smiled and ruffled his hair.

"Take him away now," Manchester pushed him towards Spain. "But no throwing him to the sea, or we'll be pissed. All of us"

"Ja, ja, whatever. Let's get going, I've got to pay the little master a visit before we go to Japan's," said Prussia

"Barcelona says hi!" called Spain as they were leaving, and Manchester threw a bottle at the closed door.


	3. Chapter 3

Germany arrived back home with Italy near midnight.

"Bruder, we're here!" he called, but no one answered, and all the lights were off. "Is he asleep already?"

Italy skipped inside. "Prussia! Prussia! I brought lasagna, like you said you wanted in your blog!"

Germany turned on the lights, and found a mess of dirty glasses and plates and empty wine bottles lying around the living room.

"Bruder! I told you not to make a mess!" said Germany, opening Prussia's bedroom door. There was no one inside.

Prussia was gone.

"It looks like he was having a party," said Italy. He picked up a bottle from the floor in Prussia's room. "Spanish wine…"

"I'm calling Spain to see if he's there. He always leaves a message so this is strange."

While Germany rushed to the phone, Italy noticed Prussia's closet door was open, and the clothes were all in disorder. "Ah, were you having a costume party?" he pushed the clothes around, trying to make room so that he could close the door. He pushed aside a couple shirts and his fingers brushed over something on the back. "A…canvas?" he wondered aloud.

The feeling of canvas on his fingertips was as natural as the breeze of Venetia. He pushed away the clothes and found paintings of Holy Rome hanging on the back. His heart jumped, and he couldn't breathe for a moment. The lines, the expressions, even the weak, confused anger hiding in those blue eyes was the same as it had been so many centuries ago. But where did Prussia find such paintings? Italy pushed more clothes away and inspected the painting more carefully. The pigments looked far too recent, but the style seemed slightly older such that both seemed to not match. And even then, the very way the painting had been done seemed more like an attempt at an even older style.

They had to have been commissioned recently to be painted in the style of their old days in Austria's house. Italy felt fairly sure they were little more than a hundred years old, but very nicely restored. To get any more precise information he would need more time to inspect the painting

But to get the truth, he would need Prussia.

He pushed the clothes back in front of the painting and carefully closed the door. As it clicked into place, a thought made him pause. Why would Prussia keep the paintings hidden behind his clothes? Germany's voice reached him from the living room, and Italy felt like he had looked into a secret not meant for him.

He walked back to the living room, in time to see Germany hang up the phone.

"No one picks up at Spain's house. I called Madrid, but she says she doesn't know anything about him going out. I'm calling France, please call your brother and ask him if he knows about them."

Italy nodded, and took out his cell phone to call Romano.

"What do you want Venetiano?" answered his brother.

"Ve, Romano, is Spain with you?"

"What?! Of course not! Why would he be with me?!"

"Ah, sorry! Sorry! It's just that we can't find Prussia and we found a bottle of Spain's wine in the house so we thought he came to visit."

"Uh? Then just call him!"

"We did, but no one answers in his house. Ve, we're getting a little worried because none of them left any messages."

"That's… weird. He should be home because he invited me to watch a movie, but I have a ton of work so I told him to just watch it by himself," Romano paused for a moment at the other end of the line, and then he muttered "And I was almost done and going to visit that idiot."

Germany signaled at Italy to catch his attention. "Picardie said they went to a party in Paris, they should be back soon," he said, with a soft smile.

"Ah, I see. It's alright Romano, he and P -"

Someone knocked on the door so hard, it broke and fell forward into the house.

"Sorry for your door, Germany! I need to find Prussia!" yelled America.

"…I'll call you later brother," said Italy

"Wait! What about Spain!?"

But Italy had already lowered the phone. It took a couple moments for Germany to believe completely what was going on.

And then he did.

"MY DOOR!" he shouted.

"I'll get you a new one, but this is more important! I think England summoned Prussia's ghost and then got kidnapped by him!"

"My brother's not dead! Do you even realize what you're saying America?!"

It took a while to calm down America enough for him to tell them all that had happened at England's house, and even then, they weren't sure he was rational enough.

"Ve, that sounds really weird America," said Italy.

"But it's the truth! It was Prussia's pirate ghost!"

"But…I don't think Prussia was ever a pirate? He was a knight once, I think but…"

Germany stood up. "No way," he said, and went into Prussia's room.

Italy panicked and followed after him, but Germany went towards the bed and knelt down next to it, searching for something underneath. "It's not here. I can't believe it, he took them."

"What?"

"His old clothes from when he served Friedrich der Gro**ß**e."

"And that's bad?"

"Not…really. It's just that my brother sometimes gets…odd."

"And kidnaps people?" asked America behind Italy, making him jump.

"No!" Germany got up and dusted off his pants. "I don't know what is going on, but I will get to the bottom of this. We will go see Picardie right now."


	4. Chapter 4

Austria couldn't sleep. He went to his piano room and looked out the tall windows. There seemed to be something strange with the very air tonight, but he couldn't put his finger on what put him on edge like that.

He rubbed his hands and found that he didn't feel like breaking the silence with his playing now. He didn't have any concrete feelings he could turn into music, and the thought of it made him not want to even look at his piano.

Instead, he went to the back garden and looked at his bird cages.

After Prussia had been taken by Russia, many of his birds had seeked refuge in Austria's mansion. He hadn't paid them much attention at first, but when the weather started to cool, Austria had taken them all and put them in cages. Big and ugly at first, but as he regained his strength and money, he'd had beautiful golden cages made for them.

"I knew I was missing some," said a raspy voice from the shadows, and Austria jumped.

"What?!"

The birds all woke up and started hitting themselves against the cages. A small yellow bird flew to Austria's head.

Prussia walked out of the shadows, he carried a long axe over his shoulders.

"That's nasty," he said, pointing at the cages. "But I guess that's how you show love, uh?"

"P-Prussia! What are you doing here, dressed like that?!" he asked, backing away. The small yellow bird then went to every cage and somehow opened them one by one. Austria swallowed. "I was going to give them back!"

"Kesesese!"

There was no treat to save Austria, but Prussia had a lot of fun with the trick.


	5. Chapter 5

Italy clung to Germany and shivered. The night had turned too cold for the season.

"There's no one in I guess," said America, after knocking a few times.

"America, please open the door like you opened mine," said Germany.

"That was an accident!"

"I know, but we need to check, and I'm sure I saw a light turn off when we turned the corner."

"But France, uhm…"

Germany took off his scarf and tied it around Italy. "If he's not here, France will have to worry about far more than just his door."

America didn't look convinced, but sighed and took the doorknob anyway. "Fine, but I'm not taking the blame for this," he said, and then turned the doorknob until it broke and pushed the door with his shoulder to break the second lock. After that only a small chain kept the door closed, and the tore it away with a single pull.

"Wow, you're so strong America!" said Italy, skipping inside after Germany.

"Thanks, I guess," said America, a little confused that Italy thought nothing on breaking and entering France's house like that.

They turned on every light, and found everything clean and in order.

"So, no party then?" said America, looking out the window.

"But why would Picardie lie about it?" asked Italy.

Germany looked around. "It's obvious France ordered him to do it. Otherwise he would be in a lot of trouble. Besides, Picardie's family have been loyal assistants of France for a long time. Isn't that right?" he opened the coat closet, where Picardie huddled in a corner.

"I'm sorry Mr. Germany! I'm really sorry!" Germany pulled him out.

"Now talk. Why did France tell you to lie to us? More importantly, how did he know that I would call and ask for them all?"

Picardie trembled under Germany's and America's stare, so Italy put a hand on his back to comfort him.

"I don't know. H-he just called a while ago, and said that he was with Spain and Prussia but that if you called I was supposed to tell you they were here and didn't want to be disturbed."

"What else did he say? Tell me everything now and leave nothing out, we must find them."

"That was it! He didn't say anything else!"

Germany's phone rang. "Hello? Hungary?"

"Where is Prussia and what has he done to Austria?!"

"What?"

"I can't find Austria anywhere! This is about his dumb birds, right? Austria was going to give them back you know! I swear, if he's hurt Austria in any way-!"

"Hungary I don't understand anything you're saying. We've been searching for my brother, France and Spain all night."

"What? I… Ok, listen. I woke up a while ago and Austria wasn't in bed, so I searched for him everywhere and I started getting worried when he wasn't playing the piano," Hungary sighed, and Germany could hear her shoes clicking as she walked around and opened and closed doors. "And when I looked into the garden all the cages were open and the birds were gone." Her voice turned softer. "He shouldn't worry me like this. He never thinks about how I-… what is… PRUSSIA!" she shouted. There was a loud beeping noise, and then the line went dead.

Germany tried calling Hungary again, but a prerecorded message told him the number was unavailable.

"Veee, Germany, did something happen to Hungary?"

"I'm not sure, but we have to go to Austria right now," said Germany, then he turned to Picardie. "You stay here and tell us if you have any news from France or Spain or my brother, you understand?"

"Yes!"


	6. Chapter 6

Hungary was gone when they finally arrived at Austria's house, and Austria himself seemed pale and twitchy, but he wouldn't say much about what happened.

"So that's why he kept saying that he missed some. I always told him that they must have been lost when he was with Russia. I should have believed him," said Germany, passing a hand over the intricate details of the golden cage he held in his hands.

"I never did find the right moment to give them back I'm afraid, and that seemed to upset him when he found them," said Austria, his face a stony mask of indifference and yet Germany could see a small tremor in his long fingers.

"Veee, Hungary got really angry if she broke her own cell phone," said Italy, sitting next to Germany in the couch.

"She was merely angry at their prank. She has never shared Prussia's crude sense of humor."

"It looks like neither do you," said America.

"Indeed. But that's enough dithering. You must find them and calm down Hungary. I hope she doesn't cause too much of a racket because of this."

"Hungary? Dude, the ones going around kidnapping people are-!"

"Kidnapping people? That is ridiculous America. They were having a silly party and that's all. I merely ask that you find them and bring back Hungary to safety."

Germany glared at Austria. "I'd first worry about the safety of my brother than Hungary's. I'm pretty sure she will be fine," he gave the cage to Italy.

"Hungary is a lady and if you do not care about that then I'm afraid I'll have to go find her myself."

Germany sighed. "No, that's fine. We'll find them and make sure they are all safe," he stood up and Italy followed suit, but America didn't move.

"Wait, I still want to know if England was with them. He's the one I'm looking for."

"England? Hmm," Austria looked away. "I can't remember clearly. I don't think so, but I could be wrong. I only saw Prussia."

"But you said they three were having a party!"

"Did I? Prussia said they were having a party."

"When?"

"At some point."

"That's not an answer!"

Germany put a hand on America's shoulder. "Let's go America. We'll find England if we find the others. No sense in forcing Austria."

America glared at Austria, but the other nation's face betrayed no emotion.

"Fine, whatever," he stood up and Germany walked with him to the entrance.

Italy lingered behind for a moment, still holding the golden cage in his hands.

"I found paintings of Holy Rome in Prussia's room," he said. It was the first time he had spoken Holy Rome's name in hundreds of years, yet it felt like it was a name that belonged in his mouth. "Germany doesn't know about them."

Austria looked away.

"Prussia would be the best one to explain."

Italy smiled and nodded. "That's alright. I thought the same thing," he said, then he gave the cage back to Austria. "I think I understand now, why we sometimes keep secrets like this."

His phone rang. An annoying little folk song from the south. He waved goodbye to Austria as he answered. "Romano, hi! No, we're at Austria's house…But why did you go to Germany's house?"

Austria saw him leave.

He had kept many secrets. It came with seeing so many hearts bound to him wither and die in his hands.

Time claimed all the humans, but the hearts of nations… those he wished to preserve forever. Those he wished he could keep in cages, safe forever in his hands.


	7. Chapter 7

Japan slept peacefully. From the garden, a soft breeze shook the leaves of the trees, bringing with it a whisper of the winter to come.

A small bird flew into the garden, landed on the bamboo fountain, and chirped.

Japan awoke.

Hundreds of thousands of nights, and that kind of bird had not been in a single one.

The doorbell rang.

Japan pushed off the blankets and went to the door. "Who is it?" he asked. The very wind seemed to have shifted, whispering a contained excitement.

"Trick of Treat, Japan," said England on the other side.

Japan blinked a couple times. "England-san? What are you doing here so late-?" he opened the door, but there was no one there. "What?" he looked to either side of the street. "I must be very tired." He said, and went back to bed.

As soon as he was under the covers, the doorbell rang again. "This can't be possible," he complained and went back to the door. "Who is it?"

"¡Dulce o Truco, Japón!"

"S-Spain-san?" He opened the door.

There was no one there.

"What is this? Who's there?" he looked up to see if someone had hidden in the entrance roof, but there was no one anywhere he could see. "This is madness. Could I be dreaming?" he went back to bed, and the doorbell rang in time.

"No. Not again."

The doorbell rang again, and again, and again…

"Fine!" he ran to the door and opened it.

No one.

He closed it and turned around.

Prussia smirked down at him.

"Sweets, bitte."


	8. Chapter 8

Hungary heard a horrified scream break the silence of the night, and sprinted towards Japan's house.

She had lost them for a moment when she passed by Budapest to change into more appropriate clothes (something that included pants, a sword, and had been out of fashion for at least three hundred years) but she had almost caught up with them thanks to England noticing her and commenting about how they were going to Japan.

She reached the house and kicked down the door a second before remembering that it opened sideways. Before she could worry too much about the damage she ran inside and found Prussia drawing on Japan's face with permanent marker.

"What? Hungary?!"

"Found you!" She lifted her sword, intending to cut the feather in Prussia's hat clean off. "That's it for you!"

"Waaah!"

An axe intercepted her sword.

"¡Perdón Hungría! (Sorry hungary!)" apologized Spain. Behind him she saw England being held by France in the garden.

The game had suddenly become far more interesting. She lifted her sword to hit Spain, who stopped her with the handle of his axe.

"That was a bad move Spain," she said, smirking because she knew she had the upper hand at such a short range.

Spain's gentle eyes took on a harsher glare.

Prussia lifted Japan over his shoulder. "Let's get out of here!"

"No way! England, come on!" yelled Hungary, giving enough time for Spain to step back and widen the range of movement for his axe.

England smirked and elbowed France in the stomach, then he ran to the house and punched Prussia in the face.

"Sheiße!" Prussia stumbled backwards and fell on his ass. England went straight for Japan's samurai swords on display.

"Oh, non, mon ami," said France, and England narrowly avoided the tip of his sword.

Japan decided that was the best moment to regain consciousness, and woke up to find himself over Prussia's shoulder and trapped between two different battles.

"What is going on?! Why is everybody fighting in my house?!"

France dodged an unfocused slash by England and used the moment to step in closer and tackle him against a door, which crumbled and splintered under their weight.

"My door!" yelled Japan. Prussia pulled the smaller man against him and used his cape to shield him from the splinters.

"Seems like things are getting a bit out of control, eh?" said Prussia nervously, not quite ready to accept that everything had escaped his control completely, but willing to make a small concesion.

"Pochi!" shouted Japan, and the small dog came out of his hiding place to bite at Prussia's ankle.

"What is this? It tingles," laughed Prussia. Gilbird flew down from his shoulder and started chirping in front of the dog's face, scaring him away. "Kesesese!"

Japan elbowed Prussia in the stomach and ran away to his room. "This is unbelievable!" he said, looking around the dresser. Whatever anyone said, if there was anyone ready for a Godzilla attack, it was Japan.

He found the controller he was searching for just in time for Prussia to come through the door. "Hey, we're not seriously-"

Japan pressed the ON button, and a door opened in the garden, surprising Hungary and Spain in mid fight. From below emerged a robot painted in bright neon colors.

Spain lowered his axe. "Ay, Dios…, (Oh, my God...)" he muttered, suddenly realizing how screwed they were. Behind them, in the house, England kicked France away and managed to pry the sword from him, but befor he could regain the upper hand, France produced a musket from beneath his cloak and aimed at him. England stepped back and laughed. Still in the floor and pointing the musket at England, France laughed along with him.

They stopped laughing at the same time and looked at the garden where the giant robot had grabbed a hold of Spain. Hungary jumped on top of the robot's hand that tried to grab at her and ran up the arm , then jumped to the arm holding Spain and hit the wrist, but her sword was no match for it.

"Try to hit it in the head!" shouted Spain. "That always works in the movies!"

Hungary dodged the robot's free hand again and ran up towards the neck. The metal was no good, but her sword might be able to pierce through the joints in the metal plates, so she kept an eye on every joint she could see, trying to spot any weak spots.

Prussia stood shocked at the living room, looking at everything and nothing at the same time. Fighting giant robots weren't really what the teutonic knights had made him for, so his mind was in a bit of a short circuit. His bird flew to his head and started circling above it.

"What the hell is going on Japan?!" yelled England. He was bleeding from the left side of his face.

"England-san! You're hurt!" said Japan.

France approached them behind England, trying to comb his hair back into place with his fingers.

"Who cares? What's that thing doing here?!" he pointed at the robot. Hungary had climbed to the top of the head.

"That robot is mine, and this is my house, which you are all destroying!"

Hungray found a joint in the separation of the metal plates of the head and drove her sword down with all her strength. The robot jerked, shaking Spain who was still caught in its hand. The eyes of the robot flashed and then it fell heavily on its knees in the middle of the garden.

"No! My robot! It was new!" shouted Japan.

Hungary jumped off gracefully and landed near Prussia. "Don't worry, Prussia is paying for everything."

That got Prussia's attention. "What the?! I have no money! I can't pay for this shit!"

Spain managed to wedge his arms off the robot, but his torso was still caught firmly in its hand. "Guys! Get me out of here!" he cried, and his the metal hand holding him. Prussia lifted Spain's axe from the floor and walked towards him.

"No! Don't break it any more!" begged Japan, pulling at Prussia's blue coat.

The robot then convulsed and its eyes shone red. "Agh! It's crushing me!" shouted Spain. "¡Duele!¡Duele! (It hurts! It hurts!)"

The robot got up again, taking Spain with him. Prussia ran to the garden and climbed up its leg. "Dammit! Hold on Spain!" he yelled, and tried jumping up to the left arm, but the robot threw him off with a shake of its leg, then picked him up with its free hand. Hungary rushed there, and tried to hack at the wrist joints, but the robot threw her off and she landed harshly on the ground.

"Japan, stop that thing!" yelled England.

France got closer to the robot and aimed his gun at it.

"I can't! The controller doesn't work anymore!" said Japan.

France aimed carefully, and shot at the robot's left eye.

"What are you doing? You'll hurt them if you miss!" shouted Hungary, wiping blood off her lip.

"Mon ami, I was a musketeer. If anyone knows how to shoot straight, that's me," he said, and winked at her.

The robot stumbled, and France took out another gun. He aimed and shot at the other eye. That paused the robot and it stumbled forward, but didn't let go of Prussia or Spain.

"Why do you even have that thing?" cried England. Japan shrugged.

"Well, giant robots are pretty useful to have on hand," he said. England facepalmed.


	9. Chapter 9

America stood outside of Hungary's house while Germany and Italy asked about her quick stop there. His hands were cold and his patience was running short. It seemed like no one really cared that he was searching for England. He huffed and kicked a rock near his feet. It skittered off and hit an old man's walking cane.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to hit you!" he said. The man looked up and smiled at him. He had long gray hair tied loosely back, and wore a deep blue winter coat.

"Don't worry, young man," he said, and approached him with slow steps. America noticed he didn't really need the cane, but it seemed to go with the air of old formality around him somehow.

"Alfred Jones, I believe?"

"Uh? Yeah, I mean, that's me, right…right…,"

The old man chuckled, and America was suddenly not really sure how old he was. He could usually tell humans' age pretty easily, but this guy seemed old and young at the same time in a really creepy way.

"Gilbert has told me about you. I'm glad to finally meet you."

"Gilbert?" America wasn't sure if he should address him as Prussia, if he had given this guy his human name, but the guy might have a clue as to where he was. "So you know Ludwig's brother? Because we're searching for him and…other people who are with him."

"I know. You should hurry to Japan now. He is in quite a bit of trouble," he smiled as he said so, and his eyes shone in a strange way that made America thing of fields of blue flowers. "That does tend to happen to him a lot though, so don't be too hard on him."

From inside Hungary's house they heard Germany yelling at someone. If America's patience was running short, Germany's was about to run out.

"Ah, he's so strong now. I wouldn't have believed it back then," he said and chuckled. Then he turned around and walked away slowly. "Please tell Gilbert it was a pleasure to see him again," the wind picked up and the old man turned around to look at America. "It's also been a pleasure to see you, Herr Jones. I am Frederick II"

"W-w-who?!"

Hungary's door opened, and Germany strode out, followed by Italy.

"There is nothing here America. Come on, we have to go back to Austria."

America stared at him for a moment before reacting. "They're in Japan! Frederick the second told me!"

Germany stared down at him, pondering on the possibilities of shaking some sense into him, but then he sighed deeply. "The ghost of Old Fritz told you that my brother was in Japan?"

"Yes! And that he was in trouble!"

Germany shook his head and sighed again. "Well, stranger things have happened. Let's go."

As they started down the street, they saw someone running towards them. It was Romano, wearing an expensive and stylish black suit. "You idiot! You turned off your phone!" he yelled at Italy.

"Romano, how did you know we were here?" asked Italy.

"I asked everywhere! I went to potato head's house and found it trashed, then Austria was a mess, and every single English county can't stop calling me!"

"We think we know where they are now," said Germany. "You should have brought a coat or something, it's too cold to just wear that," he took off his coat and motioned to put it on Romano, but the Italian recoiled.

"My coat is in the car. If you know where they are, then hurry up, the guys will drive us," Romano led them down the street to a corner where a bunch of expensive black cars waited for them. "Fratello! You shouldn't have brought the mafia!" said Italy, tugging at Romano's sleeve.

"I was in the middle of a meeting with them when you called saying that Spain and the others were gone, now get in the damned car!" Romano sat in the driver's seat. "Where are we going?" he asked, adjusting his seatbelt.

"To Japan!" said America. Romano nodded and started down the street.

"And what are they doing there?" he asked.

"I don't know, but Frederick's ghost said they were in trouble so-"

Romano hit the brakes so hard, Italy hit his head against the copilot's seat.

"Romano be careful!" said Germany, pulling Italy against him.

"A fucking ghost told you?!" Romano turned to Germany with his best Are you fucking kidding me?! Glare. Germany just sighed and shrugged.

"That's the best clue we have."

"Fine. Whatever. This night is crazy enough as it is, so why not follow a ghost's advice, right?" said Romano, sarcasm dripping from every word, but he still started the car again and drove.


	10. Chapter 10

While they were all distracted, Japan had grabbed one of his katanas. They wouldn't be much good against his robot, but having one on hand made him feel slightly less anxious.

"Now that it is damaged," he told the others. "We should focus on stopping the power cells in the chest," he pointed to a bunch of blinking lights in the robot's chest. That will freeze it and it will hopefully let go of them."

"But it moves too much. There's no way we can climb up there," said France.

Hungary looked around and saw a big rope among some debris near a destroyed part of the garden. "That, do you think we can use it to trip the robot? If we take it down, destroying the power cells will be no problem."

"We used it for a festival a while ago, but I think it might be strong enough," said Japan.

"Fine," said England, walking forward. "I'll distract it while you two use the rope to take it down. Japan, keep an eye on Spain and Prussia and try to catch them if they fall."

The others nodded, and England climbed to the roof of the house. Using one of France's guns, shot at the blasted remains of the robot's right eye. He missed by little, but the robot still turned towards him. A yellow light in the center of its forehead shone, and England knew it could see him.

"Come get me, you twat!" he shouted.

The robot moved towards him, taking a shaking step, and then lifted his left arm, where he held Spain.

England reloaded and shot again. This time he missed by a lot more, and the bullet hit the robot's arm.

"Stop that you idiot! You'll hit me!" shouted Spain, and made a crude gesture at England.

"I'm trying to get him to let go of you, you bloody wanker!" shouted England.

The robot stepped forward against the house, and punched the roof with Spain still trapped in its hand. It moved so fast, England barely jumped out of the way.

When the debris cleared, the robot lifted its arm wit Spain's limp body hanging.

"¡España!" shouted Prussia, still caught in the other hand, with tears falling from his eyes. "¡España despierta! (Spain wake up!)"

But Spain wouldn't move.

"What the hell is going on in here?!" shouted Romano, coming into the garden through one of the holes in the wall, followed by Italy, Germany and America.

Romano's eyes trailed up until he saw Spain's body hanging from the robot's hand. His face lost all color.

"Spain! Spain! No!" he ran towards him, dodging the robot's feet when it tried to step on him. He took out a gun from inside his suit jacket and started shooting. Italy ran after him.

"Romano! Be careful!" he tried to run towards his brother, but Germany held him back.

"Wait Italy! It's too dangerous!"

"Stay back!" shouted England. He tried to run, but a piece of the roof fell under him and he fell down into the house. America saw him and before he could even think about it, he was already running towards into the house.

Hungary saw him pass "Well, there goes our distraction, and some very good help," she said. France patted her shoulder.

"Don't mind them. We have to keep going."

Hungary nodded at him and they both took their ends of the rope and ran around the legs of the robot.

Prussia's bird flew in front of Germany and Italy, chirping desperately. Germany looked up and saw Prussia wildly reaching towards Spain.

"Bruder!" he let go of Italy and ran forward, until Hungary nearly crashed against him.

"Out of the way!" she said. Germany saw what she and France were trying to do and rushed to help Hungary pull at her end of the rope.

Inside the house, America pushed away pieces of the broken roof and walls, looking desperately for England, but he couldn't see anything among the dust. Suddenly he saw a small light. It moved around, as if calling to him.

"England? Is this your magic England?" he called, but got no reply. Still, he followed the light and soon found England trying to carry an unconscious Japan out of the house.

"America? What are you-?"

America hugged them both. "I found you! I was so worried when I saw you fall from the roof! You're so old I thought you would break your-!"

England hit him in the face. "You idiot! That robot thing still has Prussia and Spain! You should have stopped it first with your ridiculous strength!"

America glared down at him, then took both Japan and England and threw them over his shoulders.

"I had to make sure you were alright," he said, as he made his way out of the house. "How could I just leave you like that?"

They came out of the house to see France, Hungary and Germany try to take down the robot. America let both nations down and ran to France's side.

"This thing won't go down!" yelled France.

Romano ran past all four of them and jumped up the robot's leg, climbing with an ease and agility that Germany could barely believe. He reached the robot's shoulder easily and ran down the arm.

"It won't let go!" said Prussia. "I think it's stuck!"

Romano growled and blinked away tears of rage and frustration.

"Like hell it won't let go!"

He recharged his gun and shot at the yellow sensor in the robot's forehead. Then he shot at the blinking lights in its chest until he had blasted them all out. The robot shook, and slowly opened its hands.

Romano jumped to catch Spain in midair and use his own body to protect him from the fall. In the ground, Italy ran to catch them both, and only too late realized that was a bad idea, but by then he was crushed under his brother and Spain.

"Ugh, fratello…," he grunted, then fell back.

Prussia held on to one of the fingers in the robot's hand, but when it moved, it tripped over the rope around its ankles and fell over against the house.

Prussia was unconscious.

Or dreaming.

Either way, even if he was hallucinating somehow he was glad he got to hear Old Fritz play the flute for him again.

Frederick looked down at him, smiling like he had back then.

"You were always getting into so many strange problems," he said, and his voice was made of all the whispers at Sanssouci.

"So says the guy who was best friends with Voltaire."

The king laughed and passed a hand through Prussia's hair.

"I suppose we were two of a kind, do you not?"

Prussia nodded, and took that hand in his own. He cried, but he had no tears in this dream, so his cries fell silently into his heart. "Have you been looking down at me?"

"Always."

"Please wait for me, all of you. I've missed you so much."

"Always, my dear. We will wait forever, and happily so."

He opened his eyes, and found his face wet, but he knew the sadness he had felt then was too much for tears, so why-? Germany pulled him up in a crushing hug against his chest.

"You're alright!" his brother said, and sobbed a little.

"Heeey, w-whut happened?" he said sluggishly. He could barely lift his head, much less think straight. Germany

"You were crushed against a house by a ton of metal and then you… you just…," Germany started crying again. "I couldn't wake you up! I just couldn't and I…"

Prussia smiled and patted his hand. "Shhhhh…Shhhh... I'm fine…fiiiine. Just, hanging out wi' Fritz for a while…"

Hungary leaned over them. "He's hallucinating. It will probably stop in a while," she said, and wiped at Prussia's face with a warm, wet cloth. "He used to do this when we were kids. Babbling about saracens and whatever."

"I'll kick you," mumbled Prussia.

"You can't kick a lady."

"I'll wear a dress and kick you."

"You do that dear," she said, and went away.

Germany shook his head. "I don't know what happened tonight, but don't do it again," he grabbed the front of Prussia's coat and glared at him. "Don't ever do something like this again."

"I love you."

"No, you hear me right now, Bruder, I thought I'd lost you!"

But Prussia was already unconscious again. Germany glared at him some more just for good measure. "And you're grounded. Forever. You are now grounded forever."

Behind Germany, Italy snickered. "Ah, Prussia is always so upbeat."

"I sometimes can't believe him," said Germany, and wrapped Prussia up in a blanket to carry him to one of Romano's mafia cars.

Romano himself was crying in the ground next to an apologetic looking Spain, who wanted to hug him but got slapped every time he tried. "You were all dead, you idiot! Who do you think you are to pretend you're dead, you fucktard!" yelled Romano. Around them, a few stylishly dressed mafiosos shuffled their expensive shoes around.

"I'm really sorry Roma," said Spain and tried to sneak an arm around Romano's shoulders, but the Italian slapped him across the face.

"You said you would be home idiot! And then you go and get kidnapped by a robot! How dare you!? I thought you were hurt! Or worse! I hate you!"

"I'm really, really sorry Roma," Spain wanted to add that he was sorry for being punched against a building by a robot but thought that might sound too sassy at the moment. He went for the next thing in his mind. "But still, I'm very happy. Because I was rescued by Romano!"

Romano slapped him again, but not as hard this time. "You fell on me! You damn better be sorry! And I'm sending you the dry cleaning bill for this suit!"

Inside what remained of the house, England and France knelt and bowed in front of Japan, who gave a long suffering sigh.

"I'd just like to know what prompted this madness," he said.

England and France stopped in mid bow.

"Well, you see… it was…," started France, searching desperately for an explanation that wasn't we were all idiots.

"It was my fault!" said England suddenly. Everybody stared at him and he turned red. "I…my magic. It got out of control and affected us all. I'm very sorry, you know my wand is sometimes…not accurate enough."

"You did all of this?" asked America. "With your dumb wand?"

England glared at him. "Yes. I already said I was sorry, alright? It was an accident!"

Japan was about to say something, but France spoke first.

"Ah, yes, a very unfortunate accident," he said, nodding.

Hungary put a hand on England's head. "An awful accident, but nobody is really at fault here."

"True," said France, and patted England's head too. England growled and stood up.

"We will pay for the repairs to your house, so don't worry about that Japan."

"We?" asked France.

"Yes, they will all pay for the repairs to your house," said Hungary, and stepped away discreetly.

"I'm pretty sure Spain and Prussia will have something to say about that," said France. England nodded and got up.

"They will, but who cares?" he said, and bowed one last time. "Now if you will excuse me. I'm sure at least Manchester will want to know of me."

He left, and America followed him. "So, what really happened?" he asked.

England shrugged. "I just said I had an accident with my magic"

"Yeah, that must have been one hell of an accident when you left this in my house," said America, and took out England's wand from his pocket.

"What the-?! How did you?"

"You left it at my place last time, when I invited you to my party. I thought you would realize where you left it and come back for it, but you didn't so I went to your house to give it back and invite you again," he said, and examined England's wand closely. It shone in the same way that the light that guided him in the house had shone. England took it harshly from his hands.

"Don't touch that! And anyway, nothing happened. If you really must know, we had a bad idea that ended worse than we expected, and that's it.

America smiled tiredly. "Whatever, you look good in that," he said and passed a hand over England's jacket. "You once said you would take me on one of your ships, but you never did," his hand trailed lower, to England's waist, and he pulled him closer. "You still owe me that one."

"I-I…don't have any more pirate ships…"

"You have a wand that works miracles and you say you can't get a simple pirate ship?"

England blushed. "Well, I could try."


	11. Chapter 11

Prussia had no money, and Germany was still too angry with him to pay for the repairs, so he ended up having to help with the rebuilding of Japan's house himself.

He hadn't had to carry any heavy stuff in a while, so he was a bit out of shape, which didn't help his mood as he carried bricks to rebuild the garden's walls. But some of his birds hung around in what was left of the roof and sung a few of Frederick's flute concertos, so all in all he wasn't complaining too much.

Italy arrived then with a basket and waved at him. "Prussia! Hey, I brought lunch! Lets eat by the river!"

Prussia beamed. "Thank you, Italy!" he said and jumped over the crooked wall he was building to hug him.

They sat down near the river and Italy showed he had brought a pizza and a nice bottle of wine.

"When is West gonna be here? I'm famished!"

Italy smiled. "I didn't tell Germany I was coming to see you."

"Uh?"

"I found your paintings. The ones of Holy Rome."

Prussia forgot how to breathe. "My…"

They fell into an uncomfortable silence, while Prussia thought of something to say. Italy breathed deeply. He was still smiling, but it was that strange smile that didn't reach his eyes and made him seem so terribly old.

"Do we die?" he asked.

Prussia lied down on the grass. "I don't know. I think we do."

"Ah. Did he?"

"I think so. When I found him, after over a hundred years of languishing at the doors of death, his heart had ceased to beat," he took a deep breath. "But his eyes still shone with the same blue as his sky, and I could see that whatever he was. Whatever we are, wasn't gone from him," he held Italy's hand, and saw that he was crying silently. "I'm sorry, but…Everything else was gone though. All memories and words, and when his heart beated again even I could barely recognize him."

"Our sky can't die," said Italy through the tears.

"It can't, but I did not wish to awake in him any memories of his end, so I…"

"There you are bruder," said Germany. He walked to them, carrying a basket of his own. He stopped when he saw them holding hands. Prussia and Italy let go of each other immediately.

"W-west! I thought you weren't coming!" said Prussia, and jumped up from the grass. Italy stared at Germany for a moment, and then wiped his face.

"Italy? What are you doing here? Why are you crying?"

"I'm sorry Germany, I'm just so happy!"

Germany looked sadder than Prussia had ever seen him. "I see…I'm sorry for intruding…"

Prussia ran to him and took the basket from him. "Intruding? We were about to call you. Italy just wanted to ask me a few things about a painting," he smiled and patted him in the back. "But now I have to go back to work, and you both have to finish the pizza he brought."

"But-"

Italy started bawling. "Germany! I'm so happy Germany is here! Please hug me!"

Germany was confused enough for Prussia to run away with the basket and leave the two alone. He walked back to Japan's house, happy that the sky was blue and it shone for both of them.

And that there was a sky, somewhere beyond, where past and present and future were all waiting for him.

At Japan's house, Spain and France waited for him.

"Where have you been?" asked France. "We bring you lunch and you're skipping work!"

"I made you paella!" said Spain, holding up a huge plate of food.

Prussia sighed, thinking of the sky beyond, and realizing that the present was just too good.


End file.
